Extremely early cut candidates for the Buffalo Bills in 2024

Taron Johnson

The Buffalo Bills are primarily a nickel defense and Taron Johnson has been their nickel corner and essentially a starter for the past three seasons. He was the team's fourth round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft and been a big part of this defense and earned a three-year, $24 million contract extension in the middle of the 2021 season.

This season, Johnson has a cap hit of $9.25 million but releasing him this offseason would result in $8.745 million in dead cap. The fact that he has such a big dead cap hit and the Bills don't have a clear replacement would make a move this offseason unrealistic.

However, next season, Johnson's cap hit is over $10 million and if he were released it would create over $7.6 million in cap space with dead cap of only $2.5 million.

Among the players on the list, Taron Johnson is the one most likely that the Buffalo Bills would want to potentially renegotiate and offer an extension as he will only be 27 years old this season. He is a key part of this defense and agreeing to another three-year extension could create cap space for next offseason but also make sure they don't have to replace him.